View From The Field - Week 3

We arrived at the pitch in Columbia, SC on Saturday fully prepared (or so we thought) to take on the USC after two months of training. Perhaps because of nerves, perhaps because it was the first game, or perhaps because we simply expected our preparation to do the work for us, after 40 minutes of play it was clear that no one on the Wake side was in the right mindset to compete. While the USC side made plenty of mistakes, our starting 15 made even more, and the Gamecocks were able to capitalize on those mistakes to pull out to a 15-3 lead at the break. Playing wing in the first half, the lack of offensive success was evident in the fact that I never once touched the ball.

During our halftime talk, Coach Kane managed to put into words what we all were thinking. The intensity was missing, there was no desire, and it seemed as though all of us were just waiting for it all to come together. We all knew Coach was right—we all knew we were the better team if we played our game. In the second half, it all finally did come together, and before we knew it we were dominating play and had claimed a 17-15 lead with only a few minutes left to play. I could feel a new sense of intensity on the pitch. I could feel a mutually strong desire to win between myself and my teammates. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. Some bad luck here and there and some key moments that could have gone either way meant a heartbreaking and quite frustrating 3-point Wake loss in the end.

The ride back to Wake felt longer than it should have been. After a couple hours of pondering and discussing the game, I felt determined to never taste that type of defeat again. I could tell at practice and fitness sessions this week that my teammates feel the same way. After the first week loss USC, this weekend’s game against UNC is basically a must win if we want to reach our season goals. My perception is that all of my teammates believe we can win, especially after our good showing against the Tarheels at the North Carolina state tournament this past fall. One thing is for sure: if we want to win and climb back into contention in this league, we need to avoid playing like that first half at USC. But if we play our game to our best abilities and we want it bad enough, there’s no team that can stop us.

-Perry Salvagne, '10

Perry Salvagne is a senior center who is writing a weekly blog throughout the season giving a player's perspective on the team. His blog will appear every Wednesday.